Community health workers went door to door in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood to help prepare the city for an Ebola outbreak the morning after the first Ebola case was diagnosed in New York.
"We're finding signs and symptoms to look for, how to diagnose it, most importantly making sure that they take the appropriate steps so other people aren't infected or exposed," said Julie Morita, the City of Chicago's chief medical officer.
The outreach had been planned for weeks, said Morita.
Emily Landon, University of Chicago infectious diseases expert dealt with a potentially infected child who came to Comer Children's Hospital. It turned out to be a false alarm.
"We probably ask far more people to be concerned about Ebola and to take their temperatureor to remain home in quarantine than probably need to be, but that's wise," Landon said.
The way health officials would track a Chicago Ebola patient's contacts is the same way they track the contacts of chicken pox and measles patients.
"It's no different than how we track those diseases," Landon said. "The good news is that most people know whose bodily fluids they've been in contact with, and that makes the contact tracing for Ebola a little more simple than it is with something like the chicken pox or measles."
